Terrorism Has Made Wall Street Into an Awesome Sci-Fi Movie Set

Terrorism has done some really terrible things to America in recent years, but we would be remiss if we didn’t mention the government’s response, and the childlike wonder it inspires in visitors to the Financial District.

This according to an Associated Press story that for unclear reasons documents the ways in which security has tightened over the years:

Not far from the New York Stock Exchange, a small crowd of tourists stopped to watch as a bomb-sniffing dog checked out a delivery van. The cobblestoned street was blocked by a line of brass cubes with holes that glowed red like the inside of a toaster.

Suddenly an entire section of the street rotated, cobblestones and all. The cubes moved out of the van’s way and their holes turned green. The crowd “ahhed” with surprise.

Also, there are police everywhere, there are police checkpoints everywhere and retractable blockades thwart would-be attackers at various intersections. And then the reporter wrote this:

Most New Yorkers appreciate the security. But some say they miss the days before terrorist plots became a constant worry.

The days when childlike wonder arose from things like sunsets and not from the sheer force of manpower and technology deployed in the name of security, in other words?